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“The ability to stay calm, when everyone around you is decompensating, is a skill that is developed over time in medical school and residency and is truly a requirement to competently gain control over an emergent situation.”

Moonlighting affords several benefits to residents. It allows them to bring in additional income to assist with the repayment of their student loans. It also presents the opportunity for residents to gain experience in a more general specialty than their own (e.g., internal medicine).

Spending time with patients and their families brings residents and fellows joy in their work. Finding meaning in their careers helps prevent burnout and can improve well-being. However, administrative tasks, clinical documentation requirements, and electronic health record duties often curtail the time residents get to spend with patients.

The ACGME uses the terms “categorical” and “preliminary” to identify the type of training commitment that the program has to the resident. A categorical resident enters a training program with the intent of completing training and graduating from the program. In contrast, a preliminary resident has a one- or two-year commitment to train in the program, with no intention of completing training in that specific program.

For many new physicians, residency can be a major source of stress and fatigue, which affects their ability to care for themselves and their patients. Recently, the ACGME added a Well-Being section to its Common Program Requirements. Although it is not a new problem, issues regarding physician mental health have been slow to address thanks to certain lingering stigmas.

Resident Well-Being is a tool for residency program directors, coordinators, and faculty to teach residents how to pay more attention to their self-care and understand the influence their wellness has on the care they give their patients. This resource will specifically address how to help residents with burnout, depression, stress, and achieving a healthy work-life balance. Training tools are included, as well as case studies and examples from various programs about the tools they have already implemented for resident wellness.

This book will help you:

- Assess your program for resident wellness
- Identify signs of burnout and depression in residents
- Create a safe working and social environment for residents to excel

Physicians accounted for eight of the top 15 highest-paying jobs, with most earning more than $300,000 a year, according to a report from LinkedIn.

The report, based on data gleaned from more than two million LinkedIn members in the United States, also found that healthcare is the only top-five paying industry with a greater proportion of women. The average salary for a medical doctor is $161,200, which is more than $80,000 higher than the average salaries of people with a four-year degree.

Physicians occupy the top six highest-paying jobs on the list, and eight of the top 15 spots. The total median compensation in the LinkedIn report includes median cash bonuses, which can vary from $25,000 to $90,000 based upon specialty.

The list includes:

Orthopedic surgeon, $450,000

Cardiologist, $382,000

Radiologist, $374,000

Plastic surgeon, $350,000

Anesthesiologist, $350,000

Emergency surgeon, $314,000

Ophthalmologists and medical directors were 14th and 15th on the list, respectively, with each reporting median compensation of $250,000.

Spotlight

Heard this week

“When you are unfamiliar with a topic being discussed on rounds, take the risk and ask about it. Better to sound a bit green and learn something new than to stay silent and not know what to do when you get that 3:00 a.m. call.”

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